The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Would Libertarians Practically Achieve
“A World Without Moral Judgments”?

Posted on | March 21, 2013 | 42 Comments

by Smitty

While a tremendous Nick Gillespie fan, I can’t suppress a guffaw at this:

I submit to you that few statements are more wrong than saying “libertarians might want a world without moral judgments.” From my vantage point, one of the things to which libertarianism is dedicated is the proliferation of moral judgments by freeing people up to the greatest degree possible to create their own ways of being in the world. To conflate the live and let live ethos at the heart of the classical liberal and libertarian project with an essentially nihilistic dismissal of pluralism and tolerance is a gigantic error. It’s like saying that because religious dissenters want to abolish a single state church that they are anti-god.

The libertarian, and, thus, highly rational, view seems more like a commitment to tolerating such promiscuous pantheism that “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law“.

Finishing:

The libertarian commitment to true pluralism and tolerance is not easy to maintain, but it remains exactly the sort of gesture that allows for differing moralities to flourish and, one hopes, new and better ways of living to emerge.

While technology varies, I’m more with Ancient Commenter Solomon,

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

I’m looking at any shiny new “differing moralities” and sensing a bill of goods on offer. However, I do want a separation between the court of law, and the court of public opinion, with a minimalist, ethical, low-common-denominator as a public standard. I’ll keep myself and raise my son to a higher, moral standard, and let the old school, traditional, no-surprises effectiveness of sobriety, boys as boys, girls as girls, and heterosexual monogamy both speak for itself as a strategy, and be the drum I beat in the court of public opinion.

It’s one thing to support the liberty to be an idiot, in the name of liberty. It’s quite another to lack the moral courage to label idiocy as such, in a firm manner, publicly, liberally garnished with humor and humility. Liberty untempered by maturity and morality does veer into hedonism and nihilism. That’s not Gillespie’s fault, personally. However, in that vein, the mess that is Social Security isn’t FDR’s fault, either. The Ponzi scheme was stable on his watch, after all; he merely planted the seeds of doom.

See how easy it is to avoid moral responsibility?

Update: Daily Pundit accuses me of ignorance, then, arguably, demonstrates some about Christianity (though maybe not Judaism–I’m ignorant.) However, the .pdf he links looks to include a number of great modern heads, so, thanks!

Category: Uncategorized

VIDEO: Dana Loesch on Sequestration

Posted on | March 21, 2013 | 3 Comments

Dana Loesch was a guest on Sean Hannity’s show last night, engaging in the dangerous practice of telling the truth about Obama:

“The House was discussing a proposal to give the Presidet the power of the purse, so to speak, and the he could decide where he wanted to cut, if he really did want to avoid his plan of sequestration — which he came up with a couple of years ago and Democrats supported and passed. If he really wanted to avoid these sequestration cuts, ‘Here, then, you decide what to keep and what you don’t want to keep. What do you want to spend money on? What do you think is wasteful?’ And he said he’d veto it.”

The federal government can’t afford to cut anything from the budget, because it’s important for Yale University to study duck penises.

Follow Dana Loesch on Twitter. It doesn’t cost taxpayers anything.

 


Category: Budget, Dana Loesch

Under the New Pope’s Teaching, Should Pelosi and Biden Be Ex-Communicated?

Posted on | March 21, 2013 | 30 Comments

Before he became Pope Francis, the Argentine cardinal’s doctrine would have excluded Vice President Joe Biden and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi from Communion. Father Shenan J. Boquet president of Human Life International explains:

While we cannot know what is truly in someone’s heart, all too often political or other high-profile figures who profess to be members of the Catholic faith give rise to scandal when they publicly promote intrinsic evils such as abortion, euthanasia, the redefinition of marriage, and contraception–several of which have been championed by Vice President Biden and Rep. Pelosi throughout their political careers.
As Cardinal Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, taught in the 2007 ‘Aparecida Document,’ the responsibility of legislators, heads of governments to not receive Holy Communion while engaged in “deeds or words against the commandments, particularly when abortion, euthanasia, and other grave crimes against life and family are encouraged” is a very serious one.
Both Mr. Biden and Mrs. Pelosi are in grave violation of this principle, as neither have so far publicly shown fidelity to the Church on these issues, and both have opposed the Church whenever her teachings conflicted with their anti-life and anti-family ideology.

Myself, I’m Protestant, but if I were Catholic, I’d expect the Pope to stand up to these progressive secularists calling themselves Catholic.

What’s the point in even having a Pope, if he doesn’t ex-communicate a few prominent heretics now and then?

 

Category: Catholics, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi

Let Them* Eat Debate (*Krugmanauts)

Posted on | March 21, 2013 | 4 Comments

by Smitty


More at KrugmnanDebate.com.

Category: Uncategorized

LIVE AT FIVESIX: 03.21.13

Posted on | March 21, 2013 | 3 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Obama Visits Israel, Gaza Jihadis Launch Four Rockets At Sderot

Obama and Netanyahu at their press conference

Obama and Netanyahu at their press conference

President reaffirms U.S. commitment to Israel’s security, notes lack of attacks from West Bank

Cyprus Scrambles To Avoid Fiscal Meltdown, EU Threatens Cutoff
Looking for Plan B

Aussie PM Gillard Survives Leadership Challenge
Former PM Rudd’s coy refusal to lead challenge dooms Labor Party’s internal no-confidence vote



POLITICS
Senate Passes Continuing Resolution, House To Vote Today

Paul Ryan testifies Monday on his budget proposal before the House Rules Committee

Paul Ryan testifies Monday on his budget proposal before the House Rules Committee

Modification to sequester cuts would keep meat inspectors on the job, prevent overall Federal shutdown

Colorado Shocked By Prison Chief’s Murder

Senate Weighs Benefits, Privacy Concerns Over Domestic Drones

Five Of Six Former Bell, California Officials Found Guilty Of Corruption

Alleged Jihadi To Be Tried In NYC For Conspiracy To Kill U.S. Troops Overseas

Administration Working To Shift Drone Command From CIA To Pentagon

U.S. Announces $10 Million Bounty For Info On Americans Working With Somalian Jihadis

Cruz Scolds Feinstein, Wins Gun Control Debate

Supremes Uphold $220,000 Damages In Music Piracy Case

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) Rips Obama For Having March Madness Brackets Ready Before Budget



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Crude Oil Down Slightly In Asian Trading: NYMEX $93.32, Brent $108.73
Should Investors Take Comfort In Latest PRC PMI?
Lufthansa Strike Cancels Hundreds Of Flights
AstraZeneca Cuts 2300 Sales, Admin Jobs
FedEx 3Q Earnings Fall Short Of Estimates
Oracle Reports Sales Drop, Shares Fall
Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s Nix GMO Salmon
Apple Fixes iOS Lock Bypass
Twitter Turns Seven, Releases Greatest Hits Video
Google Play Store 4 Leak Shows Alleged New Design
YouTube Now Serving Videos To One Billion People
Pentagon Reportedly Ditching BlackBerry Phones For iPads, iPhones
Amazon, CIA Ink $600 Million Cloud Computing Deal
H-1B Visas May Be Doubled Under Pending Legislation



SPORTS
NFL Owners Ban Helmet Crown Contact, Players Complain

No more ramming speed tackles

No more ramming speed tackles

Owners vote 31-1 in favor of “important safety issue”

Yanks Won’t Rule Out DL For Jeter To Open Season

A Look At The NCAA Womens’ Hoops Tournament

Going For Perfect NCAA Bracket? Powerball Win More Likely

New Big East Adds Butler, Creighton, Xavier; Inks Deals With Fox, MSG

Celtics Stung By Hornets, 87-86

Sharks Edge Oilers In Shootout, 4-3

Chris Young Faces Decision On His Future With The Nats



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
The New King Of Late Night TV: Jimmy Fallon

Jimmy Fallon

Jimmy Fallon

The GQ interview

Rihanna Tour Buses Stopped At Canadian Border – Weed Found

Lindsay Lohan Dating NYC Clubs Promoter Avi Snow

Michelle Shocked’s Tour Evaporates

Octomom Being Probed For Welfare Fraud

Kate Upton Responds To Teen’s Video Prom Date Request: “I’d Love To Go…”

Dropkick Murphys Singer Beats Up Neo-Nazi Skinhead On Stage

Porn Star Harry Reems Dead At 65

Jessica Alba: Moms Should Stop Judging Each Other



FOREIGNERS
Car Bomb Kills Twelve At Pakistan’s Jalozai Refugee Camp
Bollywood Reacts With Shock To Sanjay Dutt’s Five Year Sentence
UK 2013 Budget: Missed Targets And More Gloom
Archbishop Of Canterbury Firm In Opposition To Gay Marriage And Homophobia
Kurdish Leader Ocalan Declares Historic Truce With Turkey
Oxford Librarian Sacked After Students Perform “Harlem Shake” Video On Premises
Landmark Civil Action Finds Two Men Liable For Omagh Bomb Attack
President Of Bangladesh Dies In Singapore, 85
Five Killed, 22 Injured In Sectarian Riot In Burma’s Mandalay Region
“Let’s Start Over”: Muslims Hope Pope Francis Will Salvage Relations



BLOGS & STUFF
1389: Apparently You Can’t Tell The Truth About The Ongoing War Against European-Americans
Michelle Malkin: Penny Pritzker – A Chicago Fat Cat For Commerce Secetary?
Weasel Zippers: House Rejects Senate Democrats’ Budget, With 35 House Dems Voting Against
Rep. Tom Price: The Unserious Senate Budget
David Weigel: The Tea Party Caucus Is Dead And That’s Okay
White House Dossier: Chuck Todd Gets Spanked By Obama, Netanyahu
Power Line: Obama Arrives In Israel
Israel Matzav: Obama Limo Breaks Down After Being Fueled With Diesel
AmSpecBlog: Attention – Colrado Gun Policy Not Point-And-Shoot
Jawa Report: Colorado Governor Hickenlooper Shoots Himself In The Foot
VodkaPundit: In Local News
Hit & Run: Paul, Leahy Introduce Bill To Fix Atrocious Federal Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Law
Weekly Standard Blog: WaPo Seeks Style Blogger To Write “At Least A Dozen Pieces Per Day”
Patterico: The NYT On How One Business Will Deal With ObamaCare
Scared Monkeys: After DiFi’s “Assault Weapon” Ban Gets Shot Down By Harry Reid, She Vows Not To Lay Down And Play Dead
Gateway Pundit: Sen. McCaskill To Write Book About Extremists In Politics
Spengler: The Russians Think We’re Wrecking The World On Purpose
Lonely Conservative: Andrew Cuomo, The Job Depletion Governor
Protein Wisdom: Harry Reid, Opportunistic Ghoul


Category: Live at Five

The Rush to Judgment: Is Torrington Destined to Be the Next Steubenville?

Posted on | March 20, 2013 | 14 Comments

Two 18-year-olds in Torrington, Conn., are charged with sexually assault. The case involves a 13-year-old, and it has caused some ugly reaction:

[O]n social media in recent weeks, dozens of athletes and Torrington High School students, male and female, have taunted the 13-year-old victim, calling her a “whore,” criticizing her for “snitching” and “ruining the lives” of the 18-year-old football players, and bullying students who defend her.
“Even if it was all his fault, what was a 13 year old girl doing hanging around 18 year old guys..” said a Twitter user with the handle, “@LoryyRamirez.” That was reposted 11 times and received six favorites.

Balancing the rights of victims and the rights of the accused can be difficult in such cases, and when rape accusations become national headlines, commentary is often wildly irresponsible. Lee Stranahan covered the ways in which reaction to the Steubenville case led to false accusations of a “cover-up” that impugned the entire community. Dana Pico at First Street Journal reminds us of another media-created travesty:

Many of our friends on the left immediately jumped on the guilty, guilty, guilty! bandwagon in the infamous Duke lacrosse team not-rape case, including our old friend Amanda Marcotte, who was extremely reluctant to believe that Crystal Gail Mangum might actually have lied when she made the accusations, stating that the charges were dropped against the three accused lacrosse players because the “prosecution in the Duke case fumbled the ball.” ….One of Miss Marcotte’s commenters even held that:

Rape is a crime unlike others. In any rape case, but especially in a rape case where a black woman accuses a white man, the rapist should be considered guilty until he proves his innocence. And he must prove his innocence not beyond a reasonable doubt, but beyond any possible doubt. The Durham rapists have not done so, by any means.

The rush to judgment, the irresponsible haste to comment on what happened before we actually know what happened, causes all kinds of unecessary problems in situations like these. Trying criminal cases in the media is always a bad idea, and using blog comments as a way to vent personal or political sentiments about a rape case can easily turn into a digital lynch mob mentality.

 


Category: Connecticut, Crime

Allen West Wonders Aloud If Cyprus Is A Hound Of Ill American Omen

Posted on | March 20, 2013 | 4 Comments

by Smitty

Category: PJTV

S.C. Primary: Will Tea Party Rally Behind Curtis Bostic Against Mark Sanford?

Posted on | March 20, 2013 | 58 Comments

Family values: Curtis Bostic with his wife and five children

Dana Loesch this morning expressed disappointment that disgraced former Gov. Mark Sanford finished first in the South Carolina GOP congressional special-election primary. But it’s a runoff state, and Sanford only got 37 percent of the vote, while former Charleston City Councilman Curtis Bostic was second with 13 percent in the 16-candidate field. There are only two weeks until the April 1 runoff and, as National Review‘s Jim Geraghty notes, the Republican establishment seems to be lining up behind Sanford, so . . .

What about Curtis Bostic? His campaign page is StopSpending.com — a basic Tea Party theme — and it seems entirely possible that the grassroots, tired of the corrupt GOP establishment’s old-boy style of politics, could rally behind Bostic.

Reading his biography page, he’s a Marine veteran of Operation Desert Storm and the father of five home-schooled children. So there’s your pro-military and pro-family “street cred.”

Two weeks isn’t a lot of time. This is a very safe Republican district — Stephen Colbert’s sister won the Democrat primary, but she’ll get stomped in the May 7 special election to fill the seat vacated by Tim Scott’s promotion to the Senate. It’s a free shot, in other words: Torpedo the establishment pick — the guy who claimed he was “hiking the Appalachian Trail” while cavorting in Buenos Aires with his Argentine mistress — and elect a strong (but unknown) conservative candidate.

Here’s the link to contribute to Curtis Bostic’s campaign. How many small donations — $25, $50, $100 — will Curtis Bostic get this week?

The RNC ignores blogs, but I see here an opportunity to remind them that the Army of Davids can still make a difference. What do you say?

CURTIS BOSTIC for CONGRESS

 

Category: Congress, Election, South Carolina, Tea Party
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